"That Was Yesterday" is a song written and recorded by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

singer

Donna Fargo Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...

. It was released in April 1977 as the first single from the album ''Fargo Country''. The song became her sixth and final No. 1 song on the ''

Billboard magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot Country Singles Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart.

Background

When she first tried cutting "That Was Yesterday," Fargo was dissatisfied with the finished product - she had claimed the song sounded too much like

Patsy Cline Patsy is a given name often used as a diminutive of the feminine given name Patricia or sometimes the masculine name Patrick, or occasionally other names containing the syllable "Pat" (such as Cleopatra, Patience, Patrice, or Patricia). Among I ...

, and instead she (Fargo) was more of a writer/interpreter, she told Patsi Cox of ''Country Soung Roundup'' magazine."The Billboard Book of Number One Country Hits" (Billboard Books, Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1991, ), p. 196. But since Warner Bros. Records had already committed to the track, she decided to take a copy of the session tape home and attempt to come up with a better product. At first, she had written some prose, envisioning alternating between the existing vocal track and a speaking part. But nobody liked that either. Then, she decided to recite the lyrics from start to finish, with a chorus backing her. That version worked, and it was released as a single. The finished product, styled in the

country pop Country pop (also known as pop country or urban cowboy) is a fusion genre of country music and pop music that was developed by members of the country genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country pop music blends genres ...

vein, reflects on a relationship that had just ended. The narrator speaks about the many good times and positive attributes of her now-ex. She then tries to point at what caused the relationship to fail and that all those good times shared together are now a thing of the past, but then admits she still has a positive outlook for both of their futures.

Chart performance

"That Was Yesterday" reached No. 1 on July 2, 1977, knocking

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

' "

Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love) "Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)" is a song recorded by American country music artist Waylon Jennings. It was released in April 1977 as the first single from the album ''Ol' Waylon''. It was written by Chips Moman and Bobby Emmons. ...

" out of the Hot Country Singles chart's top spot after six weeks. In doing so, the song earned two distinctions: * It became just the second wall-to-wall

recitation A recitation in a general sense is the act of reciting from memory, or a formal reading of verse or other writing before an audience. Public recitation is the act of reciting a work of writing before an audience. Academic recitation In a ...

to reach No. 1 during the 1970s. To date, "That Was Yesterday" is the last all-spoken-word song to top the ''Billboard'' country chart. * It became the first single on the

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

label to reach the No. 1 spot on the ''Billboard'' country chart.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Donna Fargo 1977 singles Donna Fargo songs Songs written by Donna Fargo Warner Records singles 1977 songs Recitation songs